Tag Archives: Recipe

Update: I had some cake the morning after (it had been in the fridge over night) and it’s even better half a day later and cold. The cake is still dense and moist (but not heavy) however the cinammon and chili have enhanced – not overpowering but nicely warming against cold cake. YUM!! 🙂

I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth and while I do adore the taste of chocolate, I’m no fiend and I rarely crave it. Although, chocolate and peanut butter OR chocolate and chili are good ways to get on my good side! :-p

However, lately I have felt the urge to bake, but the question was always WHAT? because I really don’t like sugar all that much. With the coming of Halloween I decided whatever I baked had to be a little twisted. So I came up with the following cake, and while baking is precise, as always, this recipe is robust enough for tweaking. Despite what I write below… I definitely “tweaked.” Mainly because I chose to halve (very roughly – as I had to deal with trying to convert from weight measurements to cups) an existing recipe and relied a lot on “eye-balling” to guess as to whether it was the right proportions. I also added the chili and cinnamon elements at will. Ah well… it turned out pretty well and that’s what counts!

For the cake (to make a small cake)

1.25 cups plain flour

3/4 cup caster sugar (can add more if you prefer it sweeter)

2.75 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

0.5 cup milk

Glug of vegetable oil (maybe 2-3 tablespoons… I just did a quick pour)

1 vanilla pod

0.5 cup boiling water

1 egg

paprika, chili powder, cinnamon powder

How to do it…

Basically this is is the easiest cake recipe ever. Mix all the ingredients listed together in one bowl up until the vanilla pod. Make sure the batter is starting to form (it will still be quite dry / doughy) at this stage. Then pour in the boiled water. Now your mixture is quite liquidy. That’s fine – it’s what makes this cake so moist. Taste. If you want add more sugar or cocoa. Then add in most of the seeds from the vanilla pod (reserve some for your icing) and the cinnamon, paprika and chili powder (more cinnamon than chili – but it should be to your taste). Taste and adjust if need be. Then crack in the egg. Stir. Pour the mixture into a greased pan and bake for about 20 mins in a medium oven. Once the top is no longer goopy and you put a knife or toothpick in cleanly through the cake it’s done. Mine cooked in twenty minutes. Leave aside to cool and focus on the icing now.

For the icing

100 grams softened unsalted butter

chili chocolate

icing sugar

cinnamon

paprika

vanilla

How to do it…

Cream (mix) the softened butter with some cinnamon powder and a little paprika + chili. Add the remaining vanilla seeds. Slowly sift in icing sugar until you get your desired texture and taste. Then add in 2.5 tablespoons of melted chili chocolate. Add a bit more icing sugar if you need it for texture.

Once the cake is cooled, ice it! I also topped with hazelnuts… but the sky is the limit for cake decorating. (sadly that is not my forte)